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Fighting crime is most important task for Interior Ministry - Russian President

"Decrease in number of registered crimes for past seven years is certainly a good result", emphasized Vladimir Putin

© ITAR-TASS/Alexei Nikolsky

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MOSCOW, March 21./ITAR-TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has highlighted the short-term and long-term priorities for the Russia's Interior Ministry (MVD).

“The most important of them remain the protection of the legal interests of citizens and resolute fight against crime,” the president said at extended meeting of the ministry board.

He told that the trend for the decrease in the number of registered crimes (by 4.2%) continued last year, including grave and especially grave crimes. “Such dynamics has been observed in Russia for the past seven years and this is certainly a good result,” the president stressed.

Summarising the results of the Interior ministry work last year he noted that the number of registered crimes against property decreased by almost seven%, and the number of home burglaries decreased by more than 10%.

At the same time, according to Putin, the total number of registered crimes remains high - 2,2 million.

“The work to raise the crime solving rate has also failed so far,” he stated, specifying that the share of unsolved crimes nationwide is almost 44%.

The president said the task of getting rid of criminal elements in the economy, participation in the creation of a healthy business environment was another important line of MVD work. “I’d like to note that compared with 2012, the number of exposed economic crimes decreased by almost 20% in 2013,” he said.

Putin is certain that these indicators are directly caused by fundamental changes in the country’s legislation.

“I believe that we should also take efforts to consistently liquidate every kind of reasons for unjustified interference in economic life in the future,” the Russian president said.

Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev at the meeting quoted specific figures of crime rate and crime solving rate. More than half of the wanted individuals had been found in 2013 by police officers, he said. “A total of more than 133,000 individuals, fleeing from justice, had been on the wanted list. About 60% of them have been apprehended,” the minister said.

The minister also noted soaring corruption. The average size of bribes that had been exposed in 2013 doubled and reached 145,000 roubles.

“The work with Interpol has been noticeably intensified. More than 60 people have been deported or extradited with its help alone. Some 100 charged persons and 10 missing individuals, found through Interpol by law enforcement agencies of foreign countries have been located in the Russian territory,” said the Russian interior minister.

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